I curl my leg to slide my knee up his thigh, almost to his crotch. “What am I listening for?”
His warm fingers splay over my bare leg, leading up almost to the outside edge of the dress, barely covering my ass in this position. “Anything that would be helpful.”
I swallow hard, wanting another drink to either curb this ache or fan the embers into a flame. If I’m going to be consumed by him, it might as well be on my terms, not his.
I shift so I can straddle him, and his hands keep my dress from riding up too high. I lean in and bite his earlobe, the scent of lemongrass enveloping me, teasing me. “Well, if we are listening, I caught some words to our left.”
He gently runs his hands over my ass and up my back while we both listen. There are two men, but I can’t see them well enough to identify them, not that I’d be able to identify many here in another territory, outside of straight councilmembers and their families.
The one man is talking louder, making our jobs easier.
“I heard she captured Kai, the Doubeck second, and tortured him.”
The other man snorts and takes a sip, maybe. I can’t tell over the music, but the tinkling of ice makes me think so. “I heard she tied him to her bed and raped him.”
It’s the first man’s turn to snort, adding a deep chuckle. “You can’t rape a man. We call that no strings attached sex in my world.”
I stiffen, putting the pieces together. Michail’s hands tighten on my waist, pulling me all the way against him. “Just listen. Don’t give yourself away. We’ll get more by monitoring, not fighting.”
I lean in so my mouth almost touches his. “That man is talking about my brother. Saying someone raped my brother.”
Michail’s eyes go from heated to chilled in less than a second. “Yeah, and that’s the world you’re so desperate to get back to. The world where the privileged take what they want from the rest of us, no matter what the damage is.”
I jerk backward, forcing him to release me as I climb off his lap. “I’m going to the bar to get a drink. I won’t leave your sight, but I need a minute, or else I’ll do something that will break our cover.”
He pins me with a look until I shuffle off to the bar, tugging my dress down and rearranging my boobs so I’m not about to pop out the top. At the bar, a server comes quickly, but so do three other working girls. They crowd close, their hips touching mine, their perfume almost choking me.
“Are you here with Michail?”
I sigh, barely keeping myself from rolling my eyes and saying something snarky. Instead, I paste on a dim smile and bat my lashes. “Sure, he seems to like me.”
The bleached-blonde girl to my right, who desperately needs a toner, scowls at me. The other two wiggle in excitement. “Oh, my gosh, how did you snag him? Everyone tries when he comes here, but no one gets any of them.”
Two glasses slide toward me, and I catch them, one in each hand, but my focus is on the surrounding women. “Them? What do you mean, them?”
The brunette leans in and looks around like she’s about to impart state secrets. “Adrian’s guys. We used to see Ivan all the time.” Her voice takes on a wistful note. “I almost caught his interest once, but we rarely see the rest of them. Hell, I’d even take the chick, Andrea.”
I recall the statuesque woman I’d met a few days ago. Most people would. She’s stunning. “I better get back over there before he comes to hunt me down.”
Bleached blonde scowls harder and nudges me, sending my drinks clattering to the bar. I glare but scoop them up again and head back toward Michail. That one has her eyes on him for sure. Did they have a history?
When I sit beside him, he takes one drink and throws it back like it’s nothing. I hold mine in my lap. “The blonde at the bar has the hots for you, and the brunette has her eyes on your friends, including Andrea.”
He narrows his eyes and scans them, where they aren’t being subtle about watching us. “Oh, really? Is that all they said?”
I take a sip of the drink and shrug. “Yeah, it’s all I let them say before blondie over there tried to take me out with a very ample hip check.”
His eyes drift down, and I elbow him hard. “Really? You’re checking them out while I’m sitting right here?”
“Go back over, see if they say anything else?”
I chuckle but stop when I catch sight of his completely serious expression. “You really want me to go over there and pretend to be a prostitute?”